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Torsten Dikow Wayne N. Mathis, Ph.D. "I had the opportunity to be exposed to so many different scientists and students that this program will be an unforgettable experience, research related and private!" |
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Torsten Dikow Wayne N. Mathis, Ph.D. "I had the opportunity to be exposed to so many different scientists and students that this program will be an unforgettable experience, research related and private!" |
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A Revision and Phylogenetic Study of Actocetor Becker (Diptera: Ephydridae) This project is a comprehensive, phylogenetic study of the shore-fly
genus Actocetor Becker (family Ephydridae), including revision
of all known species. It was undertaken to enhance our understanding
of the earth's species diversity, especially the biota occurring in
the tropics, and to discover their phylogenetic and zoogeographic
relationships. Species of Actocetor occur in the Afrotropical
(6 species), Oriental (2 species), and Palearctic (1 species) zoogeographical
regions. A. (A.) indicus (Wiedemann) has the most widespread
distribution. Investigation of type specimens and their comparison
with other identified material revealed that three described species,
A. (A.) hendeli de Meijere, A. (A.) margaritatus (Wiedemann),
and A. (A.) panelii (Frey) are new junior synonyms of A.
(A.) indicus (Wiedemann). Additionaly, A. (A.) beckeri
de Meijere and A. (A.) elegans Hendel are found to be new junior
synonyms of A. (A.) nigrifinis (Walker). We examined all genera
in the tribe Discomyzini to identify the most closely related genera
to Actocetor and provided an identification key to them. A
matrix of 29 morphological characters, including structures of the
male genitalia, was analyzed using the computer algorhythm Hennig86
to investigate the phylogenetic relationships among the species of
Actocetor. The results establish the following hypotheses:
(1) the genus Actocetor is monophyletic (all species share
a unique ancestor); (2) the most closely related genus is probably
Trypetomima de Meijere; (3) the two subgenera, Actocetor
and Poecilostenia, are also monophyletic. Two species, A.
(A.) afrus (Liberia and Senegal) and A. (P.) yaromi (Ethiopia),
have been identified as new to science and will be described in our
publication. All known species of Actocetor are incorporated
in an identification key. This research was supported by a grant from the Smithsonian Women's Committee. |
